Hot Chocolate and Recollection
by FloatingCloudBadger
Summary: "I got up and wandered over to the counter. "Molly makes tea, doesn't she?" I realised, seeing the kettle. "I, er, can't make tea, but I can do a pretty good hot chocolate.""


**Hot Chocolate and Recollection**

"Molly?"

Startled at the sound of a voice calling form outside the door, I looked up towards the glass in the window, hoping to see the silhouette of Dumbledore's pointed wizard's hat or Minerva's bun. Instead, though, all I could see was someone's head.

I took my wand out of my pocket as I walked slowly towards the door, though being hexed was the least of my worries right now. "Who is it?" I called out, pushing my glasses up my nose. "Who's there?"

I could barely hear over the sound of the pouring rain outside, but as a call came back announcing "it's Tonks!" I heard it perfectly, and slowly opened the door.

"Ron's birthday?" I asked quietly as she shook her hair out like a wet dog, peeling her dripping cardigan from her back.

Tonks looked up at me. "Oh," she said, looking slightly out of it. "1st of March?"

I nodded quickly, putting my wand back in my pocket and sitting back down at the kitchen table and picking up the toy car I was dismantling. "Andromeda's favourite colour is purple," I told her, before she could get the question out, and from the corner of my eye, I saw her nod.

"Is Molly around?" she asked instead.

Shaking my head, I looked back up at her. "Sorry."

"Oh."

It had been weeks since I had seen Tonks, but I knew that she had been in here, talking to Molly, nearly every night. Slightly curious about what they were doing, I paused, thinking, and then posed a careful question to Tonks. "What did you want her for?"

Tonks hesitated. "Just talking," she said, starting to move towards the door. "It doesn't matter."

She had just reached the door, when, sighing slightly, I put down my car and called out to her. "Would you talk to me, Tonks?"

It wasn't the kind of request I would normally have made, but in this instance, there were several reasons for it. Firstly, her hair was brown – dull, mousy brown – and I had never seen it like that before. There had to be something wrong, and while I didn't know Tonks well, I knew that she needed to talk. Secondly, I knew that Alastor would kill me if I let his little protégée go out into the dark and rain alone, and finally, if I was honest, I was just as scared as I was sure she was. Molly was away for the evening – going to see Ginny at Hogwarts for some reason – and all the kids were away. It was just me, and while normally that would be a blessing, I couldn't help but feel like I needed someone there.

She hesitated again. "I don't want to mess up your evening."

"You won't," I told her, hoping that being matter-of-fact would comfort her.

Still Tonks stayed by the door, however, and so, wondering what Molly would do, I got up and wandered over to the counter. "Molly makes tea, doesn't she?" I realised, seeing the kettle. "I, er, can't make tea, but I can do a pretty good hot chocolate?"

Tonks smiled. "Thanks, Arthur," she said tiredly, finally moving away from the door and sitting down at the table.

I said nothing to this, only nodding, and I let the silence continue as the kettle boiled and I poured out the drinks. It was only when I sat down across from Tonks, feeling a little awkward and cradling my mug in my cold hands that I started to talk.

"I remember when you used to come home for tea with Charlie," I said, almost to myself.

Smiling a little, Tonks looked up at me. "You used to laugh when I called Snape a git and then try and hide it from Molly."

I smiled too, remembering. When Charlie had told us he was bringing his best friend, a female Hufflepuff, back for tea, Molly and I had expected someone blonde and shy, who would politely laugh at my jokes and insist on helping Molly clean up. Instead, we had gotten a blue-haired maniac, who had accidentally broken all the plates and bluntly voiced her opinions on a certain greasy-haired professor.

Still, we had both been convinced that Tonks would be the one to tame Charlie – to get him to settle down – to marry him and then have his babies. Feeling fond of the girl, I was still hoping, and so, wondering if maybe Charlie being in Romania was the reason she was talking to Molly all the time, I looked up at her and spoke.

"I don't suppose you'd consider making an honest man of him?" I said, laughing nervously, but it was only a second after Tonks had taken it in that I saw her face turn a little sadder.

"Sorry, Arthur," she said with a sigh.

I shook my head. "No, I didn't think so."

Tonks took a sip of her hot chocolate, but said nothing else. I could tell from the way that she was so quiet at this that I was close to the problem – that there was someone breaking her heart. Rather familiar with the situation after having endured a good year of trying and failing to work up the courage to ask Molly out, I could sympathise.

"Who is it?" I asked, deciding to be blunt.

"It's not Bill, if that's what you're hoping," she said, smiling that rueful smile again.

"Then who is it?" I asked again.

I really had grown fond of Tonks, and it pained me to see her looking so alarmed at being asked this directly. She was sort of like another Weasley – what with her friendship with Charlie and the fact that she could become ginger at will. Even Ginny looked up to her like a big sister.

Tonks sighed. "I don't think you want to know, Arthur."

Refusing to stop looking at her, I spoke again. I knew that she needed to get this out to someone else, and I wasn't going to give up. "Yes, I do," I said quietly.

**A/N – So this is sort of Mr Weasley's version of tea and sympathy. Review? =]**


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